Spokane: Old Spaghetti Factory

When I first moved to Kansas City there was a restaurant downtown called the Old Spaghetti Factory. While we didn’t have money to go often, we enjoyed the food and ambience when we had the chance.

It was a dinnertime only restaurant for years. Then they opened for lunch. Shortly after that they closed. They were profitable at dinner, but lunch overextended them and didn’t prove the success they had hoped. So for over a decade now we haven’t had an Old Spaghetti Factory in Kansas City.

So on my first morning in Spokane, when I looked out the window and saw the sign for the Old Spaghetti Factory about a block away, I knew I had to dine there. But it took me until my final evening to have time from class to actually go.

When I entered the restaurant it had the same sort of feel — elegant conversion of an old factory space — that the Kansas City restaurant had had. I was give a seat in the trolley car — Another feature it shared with the old Kansas City restaurant.

For my meal I splurged on an appetizer, the new Gorgonzola Dip (for one person?), and two Italian Cream Sodas — one blackberry, the other raspberry (no free refills). These went with the three-course entree I had chosen: Salad, main course (meat lovers treat of sausage, meatball and spaghetti with sauce), Spimoni.

I had plenty of leftovers, which I took back to the room for a late night snack and breakfast the next morning.

It was an excellent, enjoyable meal, a wonderful memory, and experience of nostalgia.